Walsh, 49ers -- So Far, So Good / Former coach, team are adjusting to his new role

Ira Miller, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Tuesday, August 13, 1996

1996-08-13 04:00:00 PDT Rocklin, Placer County -- Bill Walsh had been back with the 49ers for only a short time when George Seifert called him into the office for the first time.

Both of them have chewed out people through the years, but this was different.

Seifert told Walsh he was too assertive in his new role in the organization.

"I knew he was setting me up," Walsh says now. "He said, 'How about a cup of coffee? Sit down and relax.' We talked about families. I knew sooner or later he was going to tell me what he wanted to tell me."

They both say it hasn't happened again -- but this is the kind of thing many people expected to occur regularly with Walsh's return to the team. Just the thought of Bill Walsh as an assistant anything struck many people as unworkable.

So far, however, perception has not matched reality.

Perception, among those outside the 49ers' organization, has followed one of two paths: Either this arrangement will be a total disaster, or Walsh is positioning himself to take over the team again.

Reality is that it is working just fine so far, and both Walsh and the others are satisfied with the setup. Walsh seems content to be an adviser. No one in the organization seems threatened.

Clearly, this took some adapting on all parts. After all, the situation is without precedent: A former coach and former team president, a member of the Hall of Fame, returning as an underling.

But Walsh, after six years away from the NFL, and approaching his 65th birthday, knew himself well enough when he rejoined

the 49ers that he either had to have responsibility for all the decision-making or none of it -- and he didn't want it all.

"I sort of had an idea on how to be part of it, but I was dealing with a lot of different people," he said. "People had to get comfortable with the idea that I could handle the give and take without overwhelming people."

Granted, it is still early, but everyone seems to be going out of their way to make sure it works.

"I was curious because he's a guy who always liked running the show," said Dwight Clark, Walsh's former player and current de facto general manager. "But at this point in his life, there's no sign he wants to do that. You couldn't have a guy any better to bounce things off. And he's constantly giving us ideas. Sometimes you do 'em, sometimes you don't."

Marc Trestman, the offensive coordinator, says he still is running the offense and he isn't worried about what people will think if he turns to Walsh in the upstairs coaching booth for advice. Trestman was apprehensive at first. In fact, when he learned the 49ers would hire Walsh, he asked the 49ers if they wanted him to stick around. He offered to resign without a fuss, but that isn't what Seifert or club president Carmen Policy had in mind.

Since then, no one in the organization has told Trestman how to use Walsh, and "that's helped build my confidence," Trestman said.

"My initial feelings were it would be a very intimidating situation," Trestman added.

"(But) I think the whole weight of the thing (is) always on him to try to make sure that he's sensitive to the situation. His input isn't like, 'You should be doing this.' It's very subtle. I think it through, and if I think it's appropriate, I use it without feeling, 'Well, the idea came from Bill.' I don't think about it that way.

"Now, it's up to me to put my ego aside and say where can he really help us? There's a lot of psychological issues you have to work through to get yourself focused enough so you're not paralyzed by having him in the (coaches') box. I think I've worked through that.

"We've got to get results, and I've tried to focus on that issue and not on, 'Well, what's it going to look like if I turn back and ask him a question the first time? What kind of signal is that going to send to the team?' Who cares? Let's just get the job done."

And what does Seifert, the fellow who really has to get the job done, say?

"Every now and then, we're going to bang our head into the wall, because it's not like this has been done before," he said. "There's no book on how to do this. But the main thing is that everybody is willing to work together."

A lot has changed since Walsh left the 49ers, first stepping down as coach in January 1989, and then leaving the organization entirely several months later. The front office staff has grown much larger. The salary cap has impacted player acquisition and development. And few players remain who knew Walsh as a coach.

Only five players remain on the roster who played under Walsh: Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Harris Barton, Jesse Sapolu and Brent Jones. Of those, Young maintained the closest contact through the years. Sometimes, Walsh called. Sometimes, Young said, "I just showed up at his office."

Young has been revitalized by Walsh's return. Among other things, remember that Walsh was perhaps the only fellow in the NFL in the mid-'80s who saw a bright future for Young. Many others predicted doom for the 49ers once Joe Montana left.

"Just his appearance on the scene forced everyone to be really specific about what their job was," Young said. "It defined everything, because Bill was going to come in and say, 'OK, what are you in charge of?' I think it helped everyone be really definitive about what they're responsible for.

"For me, personally, I can sit down and have a conversation with Bill Walsh, everything from how to stand under the center to how to get to the Hall of Fame. He's uniquely qualified to give the 49er personnel some good advice."

From Walsh's standpoint, the biggest problem has been making sure he's constructive without overreaching.

His role still is evolving. He hasn't taken over the offense. Most of what he has done, from coaching quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh to working on play-action fakes, would be classified as "technical" in nature.

He usually stands off to the side at practice, out of the way or blending in with the players, making notes on the 3-by-5 cards he also used to use as head coach. Occasionally, he will say something to a player or another coach, but he generally keeps his own counsel. Later in the day, he meets privately with Trestman and/or Seifert, and, at training camp, he also takes part in the nightly personnel meetings involving the coaches and other executives.

"Each day, I'm finding more that I think I can do," Walsh said.

Walsh needs to keep himself busy. Especially in the last year and a half, after the end of his coaching experiment at Stanford, he longed to get himself involved in football in a meaningful way again. He worked on some projects for NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, including the World League, but these left him unfulfilled.

Now he often starts his day with a set of tennis before practice. At the exhibition games, although he sits behind Trestman in an upstairs coaching booth, he doesn't get involved in calling plays. He's there if Trestman wants him, but things happen too fast in a game for much back-and- forth discussion. And at halftime, he hasn't even gone back to the locker room, instead remaining up in the press box.

Trestman envisions that, ultimately, he would use Walsh much as defensive coordinator Pete Carroll relies on former defensive coordinator and current assistant head coach Bill McPherson.

"If there's a stretch in a game between a series, Pete will say to Bill, 'What do you think,' just like that, and he'll get another point of view," Trestman said. "That's sort of the way I see it. I don't see it, it's fourth-and-one, asking, 'What do we do?' That's what I'm getting paid to do."

Among other things, Walsh seems acutely aware that his mere presence can be a distraction. That's one of the reasons he'll stay in the booth instead of going to the sideline during games.

He knows he must walk a fine line.

"The only distracting part would be if I got too seriously involved and felt too severe a stake in everything that was happening, to where I'd get in and start wrestling to get things done," Walsh said. "That just can't be a part of it, and I don't feel that.

"I'm rooting for Marc and the players and George, and anything I can do to help them, from getting coffee to giving some general opinions, I'll do.

"But it's got to be in their hands, no question. And Marc has to (be) the one making these decisions. I can't do anything other than to offer my impressions and thoughts and ideas."

Again, of course, we must remind ourselves, it's still August. Real pressure has not hit. And they all know it.

"We haven't hit a crisis yet," Seifert said. "The real key will be how good is our communication if and when there is a crisis. Then we'll be put to the test."